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Where there’s smoke, there’s ... cash?
Local energy efficiency grants deadline extended to Nov. 18
By Lorie Costian, Times Record Bureau
AUGUSTA — The Maine Public Utilities Commission has extended until Nov. 18 the deadline for municipalities and county governments to apply for Federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants.
Some $5.75 million in federal funds will be awarded to promote energy efficiency and curb greenhouse emissions for local projects sponsored by town or county governments. Projects eligible for the one-time funding range from conservation planning to replacing heating systems; grants will range from a maximum of $85,000 for individual proposals to $500,000 for regional proposals.
This is the second round of federal funding for energy conservation in Maine; 20 county and city governments received direct funding from the U.S. Department of Energy earlier this year. The cities of Auburn, Augusta, Bangor, Biddeford, Brunswick, Lewiston, Portland, Sanford, Scarborough and South Portland received funding, as did Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Oxford, Penobscot, Somerset and York counties.
Regardless of initial funding, however, municipalities within each county are eligible for portions of the $5.75 million being awarded by the PUC to reduce emissions and improve efficiency.
Cleaner wood heat
Programs that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy sustainability appeal to Melanie Loyzim, manager of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection Air Toxics and Emissions Program.
Loyzim and others have been at work since 2007 assessing causes of air pollution. They have found residential wood-burning stoves to be a key contributor to toxins like acrolien, arsenic, lead and chromium compounds found in Maine air. The Air Toxics Advisory Committee (ATAC) researched air toxins and sources and provided a strategy for Maine focused on low- and no-cost programs to promote energy conservation. The panel also weighed voluntary programs and educational outreach over top-down regulation.
Far from shunning residential wood stove use, Loyzim says the department embraces the sustainability of burning wood and is eager to help people plan for cleaner-burning technologies.
Loyzim points to Vermont, where a wood stove change-out program sponsored by that state’s air quality department provided $450 vouchers to help residents buy newer, cleaner-burning wood stoves. All Vermont residents owning a wood stove built prior to 1998 were eligible for funding.
The Vermont program also offered $75 vouchers to replace catalytic converters in wood stoves built after 1998.
Although the Maine Department of Environmental Protection does not offer funding to assist with energy improvements, the department offers expertise and educational outreach to communities wishing to improve energy efficiency while reducing toxic emissions.
“We don’t have the cash but we do have the expertise,” Loyzim said. “We have no say whether or not grants will be approved.”
Heating with wood stoves is part of the Maine culture and makes good use of a local, natural resource, Loyzim said. However, people tend to use wood stoves for decades, not realizing older stoves burn less efficiently, are more costly to operate and also contribute more emissions into the air.
“Any type of wood-burning appliance requires maintenance,” she said. “Just using it until it completely breaks down on you is not good for your health and it is not good for your neighbor’s health.”
Older stoves expel toxins through the chimney; they also emit air into homes.
Loyzim cited a random survey of 500 Maine home owners who burn wood. Ninety-two percent owned stoves 20 years old or older; just 8 percent owned stoves built after 1998, when the Environmental Protection Agency began certifying stoves with catalytic converters to lessen harmful emissions associated with residential wood combustion.
Loyzim likes Vermont’s wood stove modernization program — akin to the federal Cash For Clunkers that took inefficient automobiles off the roadways earlier this year — because it’s a voluntary program.
“This is not a regulatory push,” she said of Vermont’s wood stove change-out program and how it might work for select Maine towns. “It’s a voluntary effort.”
“Our position is not that wood burning is bad — wood is an important renewable resource and it is absolutely a part of the culture here.”
Here extends to the DEP’s air quality office.
“We’re all wood burners here,” Loyzim said of DEP staff, “so we all understand it and come from the perspective of the importance of reducing pollution.”
Of the 8 percent of Maine households heating with wood stoves purchased between 1998 and 2009, many home owners do not realize catalytic converters need to be replaced annually to work to optimum efficiency.
“We want to help minimize the downsides and make wood a better option,” she said.
The DEP is in the early stages of creating a public awareness program to educate home owners on how to care for wood stoves and how to heat with more efficient fires.
“Any wood stove made before 1998 is not EPA certified,” Loyzim said, adding older wood stoves are not equipped with catalytic converters that encourage hotter, cleaner burning of wood.
Will a town or municipality tackle a project as far reaching as Vermont’s wood stove change-out program? Loyzim is uncertain. She is, however, certain newer wood stoves release fewer emissions and require less wood to operate.
Municipalities and county governments have until Nov. 18 to apply for grants from the $5.75 million allocated to Maine via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Efficiency Maine, a division of the Maine PUC, will review and rate proposals with an eye toward sustainable energy use, previously unfunded projects and planning for long-term energy savings and emissions reductions.
news@timesrecord.com
Some $5.75 million in federal funds will be awarded to promote energy efficiency and curb greenhouse emissions for local projects sponsored by town or county governments. Projects eligible for the one-time funding range from conservation planning to replacing heating systems; grants will range from a maximum of $85,000 for individual proposals to $500,000 for regional proposals.
This is the second round of federal funding for energy conservation in Maine; 20 county and city governments received direct funding from the U.S. Department of Energy earlier this year. The cities of Auburn, Augusta, Bangor, Biddeford, Brunswick, Lewiston, Portland, Sanford, Scarborough and South Portland received funding, as did Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Oxford, Penobscot, Somerset and York counties.
Regardless of initial funding, however, municipalities within each county are eligible for portions of the $5.75 million being awarded by the PUC to reduce emissions and improve efficiency.
| • Only 8 percent of Maine wood stoves were manufactured with a catalytic converter. • An estimated 92 percent of woodstoves in Maine are 20 years old or older. • Any stove built before 1998 is not EPA certified. • The Department of Environmental protection has found residential wood-burning stoves to be a key contributor to toxins like acrolien, arsenic, lead and chromium compounds found in Maine air. |
Cleaner wood heat
Programs that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy sustainability appeal to Melanie Loyzim, manager of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection Air Toxics and Emissions Program.
Loyzim and others have been at work since 2007 assessing causes of air pollution. They have found residential wood-burning stoves to be a key contributor to toxins like acrolien, arsenic, lead and chromium compounds found in Maine air. The Air Toxics Advisory Committee (ATAC) researched air toxins and sources and provided a strategy for Maine focused on low- and no-cost programs to promote energy conservation. The panel also weighed voluntary programs and educational outreach over top-down regulation.
Far from shunning residential wood stove use, Loyzim says the department embraces the sustainability of burning wood and is eager to help people plan for cleaner-burning technologies.
Loyzim points to Vermont, where a wood stove change-out program sponsored by that state’s air quality department provided $450 vouchers to help residents buy newer, cleaner-burning wood stoves. All Vermont residents owning a wood stove built prior to 1998 were eligible for funding.
The Vermont program also offered $75 vouchers to replace catalytic converters in wood stoves built after 1998.
Although the Maine Department of Environmental Protection does not offer funding to assist with energy improvements, the department offers expertise and educational outreach to communities wishing to improve energy efficiency while reducing toxic emissions.
“We don’t have the cash but we do have the expertise,” Loyzim said. “We have no say whether or not grants will be approved.”
Heating with wood stoves is part of the Maine culture and makes good use of a local, natural resource, Loyzim said. However, people tend to use wood stoves for decades, not realizing older stoves burn less efficiently, are more costly to operate and also contribute more emissions into the air.
“Any type of wood-burning appliance requires maintenance,” she said. “Just using it until it completely breaks down on you is not good for your health and it is not good for your neighbor’s health.”
Older stoves expel toxins through the chimney; they also emit air into homes.
Loyzim cited a random survey of 500 Maine home owners who burn wood. Ninety-two percent owned stoves 20 years old or older; just 8 percent owned stoves built after 1998, when the Environmental Protection Agency began certifying stoves with catalytic converters to lessen harmful emissions associated with residential wood combustion.
Loyzim likes Vermont’s wood stove modernization program — akin to the federal Cash For Clunkers that took inefficient automobiles off the roadways earlier this year — because it’s a voluntary program.
“This is not a regulatory push,” she said of Vermont’s wood stove change-out program and how it might work for select Maine towns. “It’s a voluntary effort.”
“Our position is not that wood burning is bad — wood is an important renewable resource and it is absolutely a part of the culture here.”
Here extends to the DEP’s air quality office.
“We’re all wood burners here,” Loyzim said of DEP staff, “so we all understand it and come from the perspective of the importance of reducing pollution.”
Of the 8 percent of Maine households heating with wood stoves purchased between 1998 and 2009, many home owners do not realize catalytic converters need to be replaced annually to work to optimum efficiency.
“We want to help minimize the downsides and make wood a better option,” she said.
The DEP is in the early stages of creating a public awareness program to educate home owners on how to care for wood stoves and how to heat with more efficient fires.
“Any wood stove made before 1998 is not EPA certified,” Loyzim said, adding older wood stoves are not equipped with catalytic converters that encourage hotter, cleaner burning of wood.
Will a town or municipality tackle a project as far reaching as Vermont’s wood stove change-out program? Loyzim is uncertain. She is, however, certain newer wood stoves release fewer emissions and require less wood to operate.
Municipalities and county governments have until Nov. 18 to apply for grants from the $5.75 million allocated to Maine via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Efficiency Maine, a division of the Maine PUC, will review and rate proposals with an eye toward sustainable energy use, previously unfunded projects and planning for long-term energy savings and emissions reductions.
news@timesrecord.com
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